The question then arises as to what impact the United States president's willingness to exercise his military muscle may have on China's thinking.

The U.S. airstrikes this week were aimed at a Syrian air base, but nearly certainly got the attention of another adversary - North Korea.

Never miss a story again - sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed! "China relationship", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, referring to the talks between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

On Saturday, North Korea has said the U.S. missile strikes on Syria were an "intolerable act of aggression" that "proves a million times over" that strengthening its nuclear program was the right choice, state media reported.

Al-Assad thanked Kim for recognising the Syrian struggle to "meet such challenges as sinister actions of the world's terrorists and encouraged Syria to successfully weather the crisis without fail", North Korean media said.

The US missile strike on Syria contained a clear message for North Korea and its main ally China, but not one strong enough to push Pyongyang off its nuclear weapons path, analysts said on Saturday.

North Korea has shown signs of preparing for a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which could potentially deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland, and a sixth nuclear test.

In this February 13, 2017 file photo, a man watches a TV news program showing photos published in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper of North Korea's "Pukguksong-2" missile launch, at Seoul Railway station in Seoul, South Korea.

The strike group includes its namesake aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, as well as three guided-missile destroyers.

The statement said that North Korea, which regards Syria as an ally, was not surprised that this United States military attack was a "warning to us" and that it was another example that "we have to defend ourselves against imperialist aggressions".

Kim, the dictator, has been hinting that an intercontinental ballistic missile test or something similar could be coming, possibly as soon as April 15, the 105th birthday of North Korea's founding president and celebrated annually as 'the Day of the Sun'.

"It does seem to suggest that Trump is more willing to pull the trigger than Obama", said Robert Kelly, a political science professor at South Korea's Pusan National University.

The South Carolina Republican also wants additional penalties imposed on Russia for what he calls Moscow's "aiding and abetting" of Syrian President Bashar Assad (bah-SHAR' AH'-sahd) in the use of chemical weapons - and for Russian meddling in the 2016 American election.

Syria denies it carried out the attack.

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